Wednesday, January 9, 2013Percentage of Ohio voters turning out in 2012 topped 2008And more were using the mailby WKSU's STATEHOUSE BUREAU CHIEF KAREN KASLERThis story is part of a special series.

ReporterKaren Kasler

In The Region:

More people voted early by absentee ballot in last fall’s presidential election than ever have before in Ohio. Secretary of State Jon Husted said more than 1.86 million absentee ballots were counted in the November election, 120,000 more than were cast in 2008. Husted says two-thirds of last fall’s absentee ballots were being mailed in, and 600,000 were cast in person.

Husted also says a record percentage of provisional ballots were counted - 83.5 percent, compared to 80 percent of the provisional ballots that were voted in 2008. Most of the rejected provisional ballots were thrown out because the would-be voter wasn’t registered to vote in Ohio.